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Sewing Catharsis

A very close family member of mine had a serious health scare over the weekend. I’m not going to let this post get too personal but suffice to say it has not been a very fun few days.

Yesterday I took some me-time and sat down to do a little sewing for someone else and I found it surprisingly healing. A distraction for my brain, nothing too difficult, but enough to make me concentrate on the task at hand instead of all the ‘if onlys’ that have been plaguing my recent thoughts.

It is my Mum’s birthday next week so last night she booked a small family dinner to celebrate. My Mum is one of those ladies who hates “dust collectors” or anything else that is of no use to her. She likes practical gifts but generally tells us she doesn’t need or want anything.

(The other problem is that if I give her something that is “too nice” it’ll get put away “for best” which means it will never get used!)

Well I knew there was something she needed, even if she didn’t know it. When we stayed with her recently I realised how much I missed my peg apron and using a basket on the ground is no good for your back (or hers) so I decided to make my Mum her very own Peg Apron.

I used my favourite apron book, A is for Apron, by Nathalie Mornu. This is a great book for anyone as apron mad as I am.

There are 25 “fresh and flirty” aprons inside and plenty of ideas for more with a short section on the history of aprons and lots of vintage images.

The photographs are beautiful and the fabric selections are inspirational, you’ll never want to buy a boring beige apron again!

I don’t find the instructions particularly helpful, there is too much text and not enough images but none of these aprons are particularly difficult to construct.

Patterns are in the back at reduced scale so you need to enlarge them on a photocopier or scan and enlarge them in Photoshop/Gimp or similar program and print them off.

I made Deep Pockets, the second time I have made this pattern since the version I made for myself is so great. This pattern is also excellent for using up those many scraps or fat-quarters you have hoarded away because the fabric requirements are minimal. I even used scraps to make the bias binding as well since you only need about 12cms of it.

It only took me about 90 minutes to construct (and that included re-threading my overlocker, making a cup of tea and checking my emails!) I am pretty sure I spent more time choosing which fabric to use!

This time around I did not divide the apron into two pockets because I find that because I am right-handed I just end up with one pocket full or pegs and nothing in the other side! I like how well my Mum’s one turned out that I might unpick the top stitching of my apron.

Now back to the “for best” problem, Mum has promised me she will use the apron, she thinks it really is a great idea and can see the benefit of not juggling pegs in her hands and not stooping down to the peg basket. My Aunty and Nana also liked it so much they have asked for one each as well.

You can see my first version of this apron here and there are also images in that link to the Cosmopolitan, an Art Deco style apron from the same book.